MARKETING: CREATING CUSTOMER VALUE AND

Chapter 1

MARKETING: CREATING CUSTOMER VALUE AND

ENGAGEMENT

MARKETING STARTER: CHAPTER 1

Emirates’ Customer Value-Driven Marketing: Engaging Customers and Building

Brand Community Synopsis Founded in 1985, the Emirates Group operates across six continents and 144 cities. It is the largest international airline in the world.Emirates set out to be an innovative, modern, and customer-oriented provider of high-quality air travel services.Through the years, it has successfully and continuously created a customer-focused value proposition by offering a combination of products, services, information, and experiences customized for its market demographics for each of its destinations. Examples are the ICE system and the Skywards Program, which have allowed Emirates to deliver its value proposition to its customers and support its mission statement of committing to high standards.As competitors continued to discount air fares to loss-making levels, Emirates maintained fares while managing healthy yields supported by excellent load factors.The company was able to do this because of its customer-value driven marketing approach and its service proposition, for which customers continue to be willing to pay a premium.Beyond the functional benefit of air travel, Emirates marketed its services as “The Emirates Experience,” a genuine passion for comfort and attention to detail. Customers didn’t just fly Emirates; they experienced it.In these digital times, Emirates is forging a new kind of customer relationship, a deeper, more personal, more engaging one. Emirates uses online, mobile, and social media to connect with its customers and creates brand “tribes”—large groups of highly engaged users—with the help of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest.The company’s “Hello Tomorrow” campaign, launched in 2012 in over 80 markets, presented Emirates’ new mindset, which celebrates global travel, conveying its commitment to connect with people and help them realize their potential through travel.The “Hello Tomorrow” campaign reached 43 million viewers across 85 countries. Emirates’ consideration jumped from 38 percent to 69 percent among viewers and an impressive 84 percent of them reportedly believe Emirates was a brand that sought to connect the world and “create a brighter future.” Emirates has become the world’s most valuable airline brand with an estimated value of $6.6 billion, according to the 2015 Brand Finance Global 500 report. Through its campaigns, Emirates has demonstrated commitment, authenticity, relevance, and differentiation, and has successfully changed the way it reaches out to its customers by moving away from the product and creating a discourse of global customer engagement.Discussion Objective An active 10-minute discussion of the Emirates story will help link students to key foundational marketing concepts.Emirates provides an excellent vehicle for introducing the overall marketing framework presented in Chapter 1 and throughout the text: Good marketing is all about creating value for customers and building strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return.Principles of Marketing, 17e (Global Edition), Philip Kotler, Gary Armstrong (Instructor Manual All Chapters, 100% Original Verified, A+ Grade)

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Starting the Discussion To start the discussion, ask the class who has flown Emirates before. Based on the show of hands, ask for students to share their experience with the brand. What attracted them to Emirates? What is it about the customer experience that is so enticing?Next, pull up Emirates’ Facebook pages. Working with students, search for a few specific sports pages that interest them. Click on articles and links to further explore. Together, note the variety of approaches Emirates takes and the focus on customers. Investigate Emirates’ other social media feeds, including the company’s Web site, Twitter, Snapchat, and YouTube. In what ways does Emirates’ obsession with customer service show through in every way?You should be familiar with these Web sites in advance so that you can move purposefully to keep the discussion moving. But let the class discussion interactively guide the sites that you explore, taking you deeper into each page.Start with the first question below, and then ask other questions as the discussion allows. Throughout the discussion, keep your objective firmly in mind: to emphasize that good marketing is all about creating value for customers and managing customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return. The final question leads the class into Chapter 1 and the discussion for the day. Have fun with this one!Discussion Questions 1.The first marketing story in the text is about Emirates. Let’s take a quick look at the “About Emirates” link at the bottom of the Emirates home page and see what we can learn about the company and how it operates.Just looking at this Web page, what stands out about Emirates? Go to Emirates’ other social media outlets to reinforce the idea that everything points to Emirates’ obsession with its customers—it’s all about connecting the company and the customers.

2.How has what we are seeing on these sites contributed to Emirates’ performance? How has Emirates been successful? (As indicated in the Emirates story, the company has grown astronomically in market share and strength of customer relationships, due largely to its obsession with customer satisfaction and customer experience. Thus, by creating value for customers, Emirates has captured value from customers in return.) 3.Why did the authors choose Emirates as the very first company to highlight in the first chapter of the text?How does this opening story relate to the major points made in the rest of the chapter? (This question should lead naturally into major Chapter 1 concepts: What is marketing and what is the marketing process?What is customer-driven marketing? Why are customer value, customer satisfaction, and customer relationships so important?)

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

Use Power Point Slide 1-1 Here In this chapter, we introduce the basic concepts of marketing. It starts with the question, “What is marketing?” Simply put, marketing is managing profitable customer relationships. The aim of marketing is to create value for customers and to capture value from customers in return. Next, the five steps in the marketing process are discussed—from understanding customer needs, to designing customer-driven marketing strategies and integrated marketing programs, to building customer relationships and capturing value for the firm. Finally, there is a discussion of the major trends and forces affecting marketing in this age of customer relationships.

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

Use Power Point Slides 1-2 here 1.Define marketing and outline the steps in the marketing process.

2.Explain the importance of understanding the marketplace and customers and identify the five core marketplace concepts.

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• Identify the key elements of a customer value-driven marketing strategy and discuss the

marketing management orientations that guide marketing strategy.

• Discuss customer relationship management and identify strategies for creating value for

customers and capturing value from customers in return.

• Describe the major trends and forces that are changing the marketing landscape in this

age of relationships.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

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INTRODUCTION

When you think of air travel in the Middle East, chances are good that you think first of Emirates. The flight experience features an array of product offerings such as its onboard ICE system as well as exclusive lounges for its clientele.From the start, Emirates has grown steadily and strongly.As competitors continued to discount air fares close to loss levels, Emirates maintained fares while managing healthy yields.To its core, the company is relentlessly customer driven, for which customers continue to be willing to pay a premium.Emirates’ social media marketing makes the brand experience special by focusing on building relationships and connections.Emirates’ successfully concentrates on delivering customer value through its efforts to develop special and deep experiences.

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Photo: Emirates

aircraft

➢ Opening Vignette Questions

• Many companies claim to be obsessed with

customer service. What sets Emirates apart from the others?

• In your opinion, is it possible to spend heavily

on media advertising and also successfully market through digital and social media?Explain.

• Do you believe that customers really want long-

term relationships with a company and other customers? If so, how does Emirates build these relationships?

• What if a close online competitor came along,

offering comparable items and service? Do you think most Emirates customers would remain

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loyal to Emirates? Defend your answer.

PPT 1-3

PPT 1-4

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Define marketing and outline the steps in the marketing process.

WHAT IS MARKETING?

A simple definition of marketing is engaging customers and managing profitable customer relationships.

Marketing must both attract new customers and grow current customers.

Every organization must perform marketing functions, not only for-profit companies.

Nonprofits (colleges, hospitals, churches, etc.) also must perform marketing.Marketing Defined Most people think of marketing only as selling and advertising or “telling and selling.”

Marketing must focus on satisfying customer needs.

We define marketing as the process by which companies engage customers, build strong customer relationships, and create customer value in order to capture value from customers in return.Learning Objective 1

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Key Term:

Marketing

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Photo: Social media

marketing on mobile devices ➢ Assignments, Resources Use Discussion Question 1-1 here ➢ Troubleshooting Tip For most students, this will be their first introduction to marketing and all its ramifications. To most of them, marketing is nothing more than selling and/or advertising, and this gets reinforced daily when they see “marketing” job ads that are really sales positions. It helps to get students talking about what marketing is, and to give examples of what they consider good marketing. Try to bring in contemporary examples that the students can relate to.

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